Left Alone
by cbssoapsgirl
Summary: Fitz and Olivia haven't seen each other in years but what happens when something unexpected occurs and Fitz is told?
1. Left

"You are not resigning. I refuse to accept your resignation. You can't leave me. I'm not losing you again," Fitz said.

She's been the story. Together, they were the story at the top of the news. Everyone was talking about them. Olivia never wanted to be the story. She was a fixer, and fixing herself was never easy.

"I'm not resigning. I'll be here tomorrow. Goodbye, Mr. President," Liv said as she walked out of the Oval office. When she got in her car she knew what she had to do. Changing the headlines was the first thing to be done. Change the story to foreign policy or world hunger or anything but them. Even though everyone would want to know about the woman sleeping with the President, she had to change the topic off of her.

Fitz relaxed and finished his paperwork for the night. When he got done, he slowly made his way up to the residence taking in every part of the White House there was. He had gone to bed earlier than usual so he could at least attempt to get more sleep than he did the night before.

In the morning, Cyrus had been sitting in the Oval waiting for Fitz and Olivia to come in to get to work on the campaign tactics. He looked through the poll numbers and thought of ways to get Fitz to be a bit more popular with the people of the United States. As he took a drink from the water bottle on the table Fitz came in.

"Good morning, Fitz. I have a couple ideas to raise your status in the polls," Cyrus told him in a cheerful way.

"Sounds good, have you seen Liv yet?"

Cyrus rolled his eyes, "a little early for a quickie, Sir. She hasn't been in yet. I'm sure that Liv will be here soon. What if we sent Mellie to work with the homeless for an afternoon? Read to children? I'm sure that Jerry and Karen would be a great help there too. Make it an almost family event?"

"Talk to Jerry and Karen about it, see if they would like to. If they don't, that's it. I'm not going to pressure them. That's their mother's job, not mine."

Cyrus went to work on the arrangements for everything. Asking the children if they would like to attend. Surprisingly, they both agreed to help the homeless. Fitz was in meetings with Cyrus for a while after breakfast.

"Where's Liv? We are strategizing, she should be here by now," Fitz asked.

"I'll call her again, Sir. She's probably handling a crisis at OPA and forgot to call. I'm sure that she's fine," Cyrus told him. He called Liv's phone but it went straight to her voicemail. "Hey Liv, we're working on the campaign now. Come down to the Oval when you get half a minute to discuss things."

Throughout the day, Fitz grew more worried about Olivia. It wasn't like her not to call. He remembered what she said the day before. She would be back. Still, no one could get in touch with her. They called her home, her cell phone, and her office but no one answered. Fitz searched through the news to see if she was on it. Maybe she was handling a situation in the field? He wasn't sure where she was but he held out hope that she would call soon.

Fitz didn't sleep well that night. Every hour he woke up and checked his phone, hoping for some sort of message from her. When he couldn't get back to sleep, he decided to stay up and strategize, but it didn't matter. He could only focus on where Olivia was and what she might be doing. Fitz sat at the Resolute desk going over a bill that he was hoping to pass into law, when Cyrus came in.

"Did you hear from her?" Fitz panicked.

"No, did you?" Fitz shook his head no. "I'm sure she's fine. Her phone probably died and she misplaced her charger. I'm positive we'll hear from her today."

"Cyrus, you realize we are talking about Olivia Pope right? She carries three extra phone batteries in her purse and a spare charger in the car. Her phone is never off."

Cyrus went over towards Fitz and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Liv will be just fine. She's been taking care of herself since she was 12, she doesn't need you to take care of her. I'm sure she will contact us somehow today."

"I hope so. If she doesn't, I'm assigning her a detail, whether she likes it or not. She can't just disappear like this."

"Fitz, you sound more like a parent to her than a lover. Relax, if anyone knows Olivia Pope best, it's me. She's fine. She'll call sometime soon. Now stop worrying so we can do all of this please."

Cyrus and Fitz were in a meeting with the joint chiefs in the Situation room in the early evening when Tom bent down to Fitz's ear.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, I have a situation to take care of that requires my immediate attention," Fitz ushered Cyrus out of the room. "We have a guest in the Oval." The two walked with Fitz's security down to the Oval. "Huck, what's going on?"

"Olivia's gone."


	2. Finding

"Olivia's gone," Huck calmly told them.

Fitz sat down; feeling like his heart had just shattered into a million pieces. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"I mean, she took all the money out of her account and left sometime during the night. She didn't say anything to us about it. Her bank account has been emptied and she took some clothes out of her closet. Her suitcase is gone. She left her phone, tablet, and computer, everything here at her apartment. I don't know where she went. At first, I thought someone kidnapped her but her apartment hasn't been touched. There's no forced entry," Huck said as he stood at attention.

"Did you think that maybe someone she knew took her?"

"No, wherever she went, she went willingly and probably alone."

"I knew I should have had a detail on her. She promised that she wasn't going anywhere. She promised she would not resign. How can she just leave and not say anything?" Fitz thought back to the couple days before and the conversation they had. Then it clicked in his mind. "She did say something. She said goodbye, not goodnight. She said goodbye and let me think that she was coming back." Fitz swung his arm and cleared his desk in one motion.

"Fitz, relax, we're going to find her. We'll hunt her down and drag her back. Don't worry. Olivia will come back to you," Cyrus tried to calm him.

"I don't care what you have to do. Whatever you need, Huck, the White House and everything with it, is at your use. Bring Olivia back home to us. Wherever she is, you find her and I will personally go pick her up."


	3. Seattle

Fitz sat in the living room at the house in Vermont. It had been sixteen years since Olivia left. In sixteen year, he never found Olivia. Several times he came close to finding her but they never did find her. He had a private detective looking for any traces of her but he never could find her. Fitz still had Tom and Daniel as his security agents. He would always have them until he died. That was just one of the perks of being a former President of the United States. Every morning he would read the report from the private detective about Olivia, and each morning there was no new news. Fitz kept the news on all day and listened for any word on Olivia. He had become obsessed with finding Olivia years before. His presidency had started to suffer a couple months after she disappeared. Cyrus and Mellie tried to pull him out of his depression for it but nothing helped. He started drinking heavily until Cyrus reminded him that when Olivia came back, all she would do was yell at him for drinking. That was all Fitz needed to get all the liquor out of the White House.

Tom and Daniel sat in the kitchen eating breakfast when there was a knock on the door. Fitz got up and told the two agents to stay while he answered it. Very few people knew where the house was in the middle of the woods surrounded by orchards. He went to the door and opened to Cyrus.

"Hello Cyrus, what brings you here?" Fitz asked. He was glad to have company other than the agents for a bit. Cyrus hadn't been to visit in a while. He followed Fitz into the living room and sat down.

"I have some news. But what's all this? Is this about Olivia?" Cyrus saw all the papers scattered on the table.

"What else would this be about? Of course, it's about Olivia."

"I need to tell you something. But you need to relax okay?"

"This must be big. Is it James? Ella? What's going on?"

"It's Olivia."

"What about her? You found her! Thank God, is she alright? Where the hell has she been? Let's go get her." Fitz was over the moon with joy when Cyrus told him. He stood up and was ready to head to the door but saw Cyrus sitting still. "What's wrong? We have to go get her. Come on, I'll let you explain on the way." Cyrus sat longer, not making any move to go anywhere. "Tom, Daniel, let's go."

Cyrus sat him down. "There are things you need to know before we go get her."

"No, Cyrus. You have to take me to her now. I have been looking for her for sixteen years. I can't wait any longer to see her." Cyrus looked around the living room. Fitz had filled the place with pictures of him and Olivia at various events since they met. Some pictures were taken in private moments and some in public, just of the two talking. "I'm not waiting for you any longer. I'll have them drag you with me. Tell me where she is."

"She's in Seattle now."

Fitz had called the pilot of his private jet and took off to Seattle with Tom, Daniel, and Cyrus.

"Alright, Cyrus. Now where is she? Where in Seattle?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I just have a number to call. When we land, I'll call and see where she is."

When the plane landed in Seattle, Cyrus pulled his phone out and dialed a number. "Hey, it's me. Where's she at?... Will she be okay?...Good, I'm bringing him to see her. Is now a good time?...Well, he's demanding to see her, he's not going to leave…I know that. But it might help. She might…No, don't do that… Alright, we'll see her tomorrow. Bye."

Fitz listened to the whole conversation that Cyrus said. "Who was that? When are we going?"

"I told you to stay calm. We'll go in the morning. She's not up for visitors tonight. It's late and she's tired. In the morning, I'll take you to her."

"Cyrus, I don't care what she's doing. I want to see her tonight."

"IT IS NOT HAPPENING TONIGHT! I will not let you see her if you are going to be like this. She's going to be better tomorrow. Let's go to the hotel and I will take you in the morning."

"FINE!" Fitz followed Cyrus to the hotel, stomping all the way like a child not getting his way.


	4. Son

Cyrus was woken at 6 in the morning the next day.

"Cyrus, get up, it's morning. Let's go!" Fitz yelled for Cyrus at the end of the bed.

He looked at the clock on the nightstand. "It's only six, go back to sleep. It's not Christmas morning. Go back to sleep."

Fitz sat on the edge of the bed and pouted. "You said morning, its morning, and you never gave a direct time."

Cyrus sat up in bed, the blanket still covering his legs. "You are worse than Ella. At least she waits until 7. Get out so I can get dressed and take his majesty to the princess in the tower please."

"Thank you, Cy!" Fitz yelled as he went out the bedroom door.

Cyrus went to get dressed and have breakfast. When he finally finished eating, he went in search for Fitz. It didn't take long, since Fitz was sitting outside the hotel door with Tom and Daniel. "Are you ready, your highness?"

"I was ready yesterday!"

Cyrus rented a car and drove the four of them to a gorgeous house in the outside of town. The house was two stories with a wraparound porch and porch swings in the corner. Cyrus had barely parked the car and Fitz was out of the passenger's side and ready to go to the door. Cyrus got out quickly and followed him up. "I said calm remember?" Fitz nodded and took a deep breath. Cyrus knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

A couple minutes later, a woman came to the door and opened it. "Can I help you?" She looked to be about 30ish with her black hair in a bun. She wore a pair of jeans and Seattle Seahawks t-shirt.

"Is Olivia here?" Cyrus asked politely.

"You must be Cyrus, we've been expecting you. Come in." She opened the door further and waited as the four men came into the entry way. They looked around at the marble floor and the staircase that separated half way up the stairs. "Ms. Pope isn't awake yet but she will be soon. Would you care for any coffee?"

"Yes, thank you. I'm sure we all would." Cyrus answered giving Fitz the evil eye for waking him up so early.

"Please follow me." She led them through the hallway to the dining room. "Wait here and I'll bring the coffee out."

Fitz sat down with Tom and Daniel on both side and Cyrus across from him. The woman brought a tray of coffee and cream out to them. She didn't say anything while she poured the coffee for each of them.

Fitz spoke up first, "I'm sorry for the intrusion so early in the morning. And if I may ask… who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself. I am…"

"CAM!" Someone yelled coming down the stairs. She ran to the stairway.

"Your guests are here," she told the man while she led him to the dining room.

When the man entered the room, Cyrus waited for an explosion from Fitz. The boy looked to be in his late teenage years. He looked exactly like Fitz. The boy had the same hairline, color, curl, eye color, nose, everything was the same. But he did have Olivia's smile. Fitz looked him over from head to toe. He was about six foot one, built well.

"Which one of you is Cyrus?" the boy asked.

Cyrus stood up, "I am."

"Then you must be Fitzgerald?" he asked Fitz. Fitz nodded and stood up. The boy held out his hand to shake Fitz's. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir. I've heard so much about you."

"I really wish that I could say the same. And you are?" Fitz asked shaking his hand.

"My apologies, Sir. I am Nick, Olivia is my mother. And from what I've learned, that would make me your son."


	5. Know

"My son?" Fitz had to sit down for that. That was a blow below the belt. How could Olivia, his Livie, keep a secret like that? And for sixteen years?

"Mr. Grant, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just as shocked as you are now, when I found out. But I've known for a while now. Coffee doesn't help the nerves, would you like some water?" Nick asked. Fitz shook his head no. "Truly I am sorry for all of this. I spoke to Cyrus a few days ago after finally finding him."

"Where is Olivia? Your mother?" Fitz asked him. It was scary how Nick looked exactly like him but with Olivia's smile. His skin color looked like he just came back from a day at the beach.

"Mom's still asleep. She usually doesn't get up until 9. Let me make you some breakfast. Eggs are my specialty. Come into the kitchen with me and we can talk." Fitz followed Nick into the kitchen seeing it was big. He smirked at the thought. Olivia has a big kitchen and she never really learned to cook. "Scrambled okay?"

"Sure. So, Nick, how old are you?"

"I just turned 16 a couple weeks ago. I was going to go out and run some errands for Mom today but I think I should cancel them. I assume Cyrus told…"

Fitz cut him off. "I'd love to be able to get to know you. If you are my son, and I assume you are because you and I look exactly alike, I should get to know you." Nick smiled at him and went on making breakfast. "Your mother never used to sleep past 7 in the morning, no matter how late she stayed up the night before. I'm sure she's changed though. Probably a million things have changed in sixteen years. Popcorn and wine still her favorite diet?"

"Every night. She turns on the news and eats popcorn with a glass of red wine. It's almost like she's waiting for something to happen or to remember something. Sir, did Cyr…"

"You can call me Fitz, Nick." He interrupted again. "Those look delicious."

"Mom taught me how to make these. Excuse me a minute, it's 9, I have to go get Mom." Nick handed Fitz a plate and took another with him to Olivia.

Half an hour went by until Nick came in to get Fitz. "Mom's in the living room. I'll take you to her and let you two talk."

Fitz followed Nick into the living room. He instantly felt her presence and she smiled at him. Fitz ignored everything else in the room when he saw her. Their eyes connected and they got lost in their own world. She sat on the end of the couch with a chair next to her. He looked her over closely and realized that she hadn't changed at all. Her hair was a bit shorter than she usually kept it but she was still his lovely Livie. Fitz moved to sit in the chair next to her. Olivia kept her eyes on him, watching his every move.

After a minute she turned to look at Nick standing in the doorway. "Nicky, I've told you about that. Standing in doorways means you are going nowhere. Will you make me some tea?"

"Sure mom, I'll be right back."

Fitz couldn't help but smile and stare at her. "My God, Livie. I've been looking for you for years. Cyrus said to give up hope before but I knew that I would find you eventually. I just had to keep looking. Nick called Cyrus and told him where you were. Why would you leave me for sixteen years, sweet baby? You said you would be back tomorrow and tomorrow just never came. I've missed you so much. I'm not with Mellie anymore and so many other things have changed. I thought you might have gone to Vermont for a while but no one had seen you. Huck told us that you left in the middle of the night and never said where you were going or even if you were coming back. Liv, you can't just disappear like that. For my own sanity I need to know where you are. I know it's selfish of me to want to know all of that but it gives me a peace of mind. You look just like you did then. It's like I saw you just yesterday. How are you? What have you been doing? Why are you even in Seattle?"

Fitz was asking so many questions Olivia couldn't answer. She turned away and noticed Nick holding a cup of tea for her. She silently shook her head no to him. Nick understood exactly what it was she was communicating, so he nodded his head to her.

"What?" Fitz asked.

"She doesn't know who you are."


	6. Remember

"What do you mean she doesn't know me? Of course, she does. Olivia, stop the games! You know me. It hasn't been long enough for you to forget me and what we were to each other," Fitz yelled.

Olivia looked terrified to Fitz. She didn't know who he was or what he was doing in her home. She looked at Nick silently begging for his help. "Sir, Fitz, let's go out here," He turned to Fitz and sent him out of the room. "Here Mom, don't worry, I'll take care of it." Nick handed Liv her tea and followed Fitz.

"How doesn't she remember me?" Fitz asked. He was scared that now Liv might have really forgotten everything they were.

"Obviously, Cyrus did not inform you of her condition. I thought he did. I should have asked if you knew, I just assumed you did," Nick said. As they walked into the dining room, Nick gave Cyrus the evil eye.

Fitz saw the look and had to laugh. "Your mother does the exact same thing. Especially to Cyrus. Mostly it was to me though. What's wrong with Liv?"

They all sat at the table while Nick explained to him what was happening. "When I was twelve, we were in a car accident. Mom was driving and I was in the back on the passenger's side. She got the worst hit of it. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit us. It broke the windshield and the entire driver's side was smashed against her. I remember someone coming to help me get her out of the car because I wasn't strong enough to pull her myself. The driver's side window shattered and went through her skull. Luckily the doctor's got it out but there are still little shards of it in there. She has lost a lot of her long term memory. It comes back sometimes though. She'll remember things that she did once or something about someone. She used to talk about Cyrus all the time though. I went through an old storage box that she kept under the bed last month when I dropped a glass. I found my birth certificate and some old pictures. There was also a phone number for Cyrus. I had tried to call the number but it had been disconnected. So I did a google search for him and came up with an old friend from college and he gave me Cyrus's new number. I would have called sooner but I had to take Mom to the hospital."

Fitz listened to every word that Nick said. "Why to the hospital? Is she okay?"

"Mom said you fuss over her. A shard of glass hit something in her head and she had another seizure. It was her fifth this year. Luckily, there aren't very many left."

"So she does remember me? On occasion she does. Before the accident she used to talk about you all the time. She talked about your presidency and how brilliant you are and how I look exactly like you. Other days she would talk about how you ruined her life and had been stalking her. But the minute she said it, she would apologize and regret saying in. Sometimes she would even cry because she didn't want it to be this way, it was just the way it had to be. I agreed with her though. I had a very normal life. Except for the first two years. We moved every three months to someplace else. She said that someone was following her and she would freak out and we moved. I thought later that she was just being paranoid until I saw someone following me."

"I'm sorry, Nick. That would probably be my private investigator. I had him looking for your mother for the past sixteen years. I couldn't just give up."

"Him? No, no, it wasn't a guy. Some woman. She wasn't very nice either. I confronted her about it. I told her to stop following me, she just told me to call my mother a whore for her. Even though I was twelve, I hit her. I think I broke her nose too."

Fitz laughed and knew exactly what he was talking about. Even though it was funny he was even angrier. "I see you've met Mellie. Then I owe you a beer, son. But I think your mother might be against it, so a baseball game or something will have to work. Although, it's not right to hit, I know you were only defending your mother. I had to pay to get her nose fixed too. You did a lot of damage."

"That's from my karate, wrestling, football, basketball, self-defense classes. Mom made sure I knew how to defend myself just in case. Turns out that was a good thing. Even though it's not right to hit a lady."

"True. And because I don't know you too well, I don't feel in a bad position to say: good job. On the other hand, do you think Olivia will remember me?"

"Eventually she will. The shards are in deep so they can't go in and just take them out without damaging her, possibly even killing her. I've made her realize that she needs to be here. At first she thought that life wasn't worth living and wanted them to take it out, even if it killed her but I convinced her that I did need her. Even if it wasn't all of her. The shards move to different places in her brain and when they do, they cause her to have a seizure and then we go to the hospital and have them taken out. She will remember you eventually. Mom has good days and bad days. Today is probably going to be a bad day from the looks of it. Will you be sticking around for a while?"

"Nick, I've finally found your mother. This time, even if she pushes me away, I'm not going anywhere without her. Livie is the end for me. She's the love of my life and I won't let her go this time."


	7. Talk

Nick left Fitz in the dining room to go visit his mom. He wanted to know more about his dad and the things that he and Liv had done while he was President.

"Nicky, did I ever tell you about my college professor?" she asked. Sometimes a memory would come back and she would say it right away so Nick could help her remember it.

"Which one Mom?"

"Professor Beene?"

"You've told me about him. I know he was your favorite professor and you were his favorite student. What do you remember about him?"

Olivia smirked at a memory she had. "I remember there was one time that Cyrus had asked me to lunch in his office. I brought my lunch and sat down with him and all he did was quizzing me on the Presidents of who was…"

"A Republican or a Democrat," Fitz finished. Nick and Olivia turned their head to hear the answer as Fitz stood in the doorway listening to her. He kept his hands in his pockets to keep himself from running to her and holding her forever. "Cyrus did that with a lot of his students. I never did see the point in it. But I guess it was to help with memories later. To see how well you knew what you were talking about."

Olivia gave him a puzzled look; she still wasn't sure who he was. "You shouldn't stand in doorways. People who stand in doorways are going nowhere and doing nothing." Olivia turned back to Nick. "Why is he still here?"

"I know you don't remember him but you actually mean very much to him. And he means the world to you. Just as much as I do. But, I have a surprise for you first," Nick said.

"You know I don't like surprises. Can you just tell me what it is? Please Nicky?"

Nick gave a small smile. "What if I told you that Cyrus is here?"

"Nicky, that's not funny. Cyrus is too old, by now he might even have died."

"Hey! I resent that," Cyrus said as he walked into the living room. He sat down next to Liv on the couch. "I am very much alive."

"Cyrus!" Olivia yelled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "How could you be here? You were so old before but you are here now?"

"Liv, I'm only 70. Don't make me older than that. I talked to Nick earlier this week. Did you know we've been looking for you?"

Nick stood up and went out of the room with Fitz. "If we leave them to talk for a bit, he might be able to jog something in her mind to remember you." Fitz agreed and they went out to the porch to talk.

"Cyrus, why would people be looking for me? I've been here for years, I haven't moved in a long time. Can you tell me who that man is? Nicky said we mean a lot to each other but I don't remember him."

Cyrus took Liv's hand in his while they spoke. "What's the last thing you remember before this accident?"

"Edison and I were happily engaged. I was working at a law firm with Stephen. Edison and I were getting married in the summer. I remember adding you to the guest list but I was also hoping that you might walk me down, even though it was only going to be a very small wedding."

"Things have changed a lot since then. You didn't marry Edison, and the invitations were never sent out. I pulled you away from him to do me a favor when Edison cheated on you. That man here, he does mean a lot to you. You are his world. For sixteen years, he's been looking for you. He's had a private investigator looking around the world for you and apparently, you've been here for the past 5. That guy, his name is Fitzgerald Thomas Grant the Third, but we call him Fitz. I pulled you away from Edison for a favor to help me get him elected President. We all believed that he would do a great job at it. And he did until you disappeared. When he couldn't find you, he started to suffer being the President, he wanted to look for you himself but the Secret Service wouldn't let him out of the White House."

"But why would he want to look for me? If I only helped get him elected, my job would have been done. I can't matter that much to him. I was only, what you seem to say, a campaign fixer. I know I was a fixer at one point but I don't think I did a good job. Nicky wasn't sure."

"Nick wasn't born when you were a fixer. Actually, we didn't know he even existed until he called me earlier this week. We think that you were nearly done with your first trimester of pregnancy when you left D.C. And you were the greatest fixer in the world. You probably still are, you're just a bit rusty. Whenever anyone in D.C. or around there had a problem, you got called in to save the day. You were the best at it. You matter to him because you were with him. In every way possible. Fitz is Nick's father."

"No, Edison is. I was only with Edison."

"Liv, you're missing a big chunk of time and actually Fitz is." Cyrus pulled out his phone to show Liv a picture of Fitz. "See, Nick looks exactly like Fitz."

Olivia looked at the photo Fitz and saw the girl with him. "I guess he does. Fitz and Nick look exactly the same. Who is the girl with him?"

Cyrus smiled as he looked at the picture of his daughter with her godfather. "That's Ella. She's your goddaughter. That's my daughter with my husband James." He scrolled across the screen to find a picture of James. "That's him. You and he were good friends. He was a reporter at the White House when Fitz was President. But he died. Well, he was killed before Fitz finished his term."

"I'm so sorry to hear that Cyrus. Where is Ella? I'd like to meet her. Or meet her again, I guess. She's adorable."

"That she is. Right now she's at home with James's parents. She's 17 now. You were at her christening. You held her with Fitz."

"So Fitz and I were together? How together were we? I mean, if he was President, he was obviously married."

"Fitz was married to Mellie during his Presidency. But Mellie knew about you two. I think you might have just had enough of the sneaking around with him and him showing up without notice. You seemed to have been fighting with him a lot before you left. You left just before Fitz was going to run for his term and no one saw you again until now. You did love him, and he still loves you. But for a long time, unfortunately, you were just the other woman. But Fitz never saw it that way. You are the love of his life."

Olivia laid her head on Cyrus's shoulder. "Cyrus, you've been very helpful. I still don't remember him but at least I know his name now. I'll go talk to him and see if maybe something he says will help. Nicky says he's very concerned about me but there's nothing he can do. I remember the accident but I can't remember a lot of things. Will you stay longer?"

Cyrus nodded as Olivia got up and went out to the porch. She watched Fitz and Nick talk on the swing for a minute until Nick saw her and got up. Nick kissed Liv on the cheek and went to the house. She stood still for a minute and locked eyes with Fitz.

She finally broke the silence after a moment. "Hi."


	8. Hi

"Hi," Fitz said back to her. He had a little bit of hope that she remembers how important that one word was to them but he remembered that it was only one word that everyone said.

Olivia sat down next to Fitz on the swing. "I'm sorry I don't remember you. Cyrus and Nicky said we mean a lot to each other though. I just don't remember."

"It's okay, Livie. I'm sure that you will eventually remember me. Nick told me about the accident and what happened to your memory. I'm sorry that happened to you. If I would have divorced Mellie when I first met you and knew you were my endgame, none of this would have happened."

She turned to look at him directly in his eyes to make sure that he understood what she was going to say. "None of this is your fault. I'm assuming Mellie is your wife; you couldn't leave her if you were running for President. That would look bad. You didn't cause the accident and don't ever think that. Some jerk that had too much to drink did this. Cyrus said I was your mistress," she could see him severely tense up when she said the word. "And I guess I was okay with it for a while I don't remember why I left maybe I just got tired of being a mistress or something. I wish I could remember but I can't. I don't remember you or Ella or James or some other people but I will eventually remember you, it just takes time and a couple seizures. But soon enough I will remember. Unfortunately, you'll just have to be patient since I can't cause a seizure."

Fitz took her face between his hands and instantly she moved her face to nuzzle his palm. "You were NEVER a mistress. Please don't ever use that word. I hate it. I've punched Cyrus before when he's said it and nearly killed Mellie when she said it. So no matter what you think of yourself, you have never been a mistress. And I'm sure that we will have to discuss this again when you do remember me and you'll yell and scream and do what you've always done but you were never a mistress. You ARE and always will be the love of my life. You pushed me away before and I've somehow found a way to always get you back, well this time just took longer. I'm going to be around until you remember me and forever past that. I'm not losing you again. The past sixteen years have been hell already, another sixteen will kill me."

Olivia held Fitz's hand for a while in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, just a peaceful quiet time. After a while Nick and Cyrus came out to join them with Tom and Daniel following right behind.

"Did you figure it out yet, Mom?" Olivia shook her head no. "That's okay, I'm sure you'll remember it soon. I have to get to class. Will you be alright with them here? Cam will be right inside."

"I'll be fine. It looks like I have some old friends to catch up with. Who are they though?" she asked motioning to Tom and Daniel.

"Those are my security detail. You'll remember them too. And everything that they have done to you on my orders. So don't be too angry with them," Fitz answered.

"Oh, alright. Have a good class Nicky, I'll see you tonight? I'll have dinner ready after your last class."

"Okay, Mom. Have fun with these guys, but not too much please," Nick said. He looked over at Fitz, "do not upset her."

They watched Nick get in his car and leave. "Isn't he running a bit late for high school classes? Those usually start at like 8, right? It's 10:30 now," Cyrus asked.

"Cyrus, you're funny. Nicky is in college. He goes to Seattle University. His class doesn't start until 11:30. He's got three classes today. Nicky won't be back until at least 6 tonight. I should go to the store and get things for dinner."

"Nick is only sixteen though. What's he doing there? What is he even studying?" Cyrus countered.

Olivia smiled at Cyrus. "Nicky is my son, he's brilliant. He graduated from high school two years ago. He's studying Political Science. I've tried to talk him out of it, but that's the only thing he wants to do. I'm going to get my shoes and go. Where are you staying at?" She asked the men.

"At a hotel on the other side of the city. Would you mind if I came with you Livie?" Fitz asked.

"I do, actually. I'm assuming your security detail will be following you so I'd rather you just stay put. I don't want attention when someone sees you with me. I'll take Cyrus though. I know him better," she said. She looked at her feet, "I guess I know you better than anyone though, Fitz, right? We have a child together. I'm assuming we know a lot about each other."

"That we do, but it's okay. I know what you mean. Cyrus will go with you."

"Alright, and I know I don't know all of you right now but at some point I did. I've got extra rooms here, you can stay here. That is, if you want."

"We'd love to Liv. As long as you are comfortable with it."

"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't. Cam will set up a couple rooms for the four of you. This used to be a bed and breakfast so there is plenty of room. I'll go get my purse and we can go, Cyrus."


	9. Breathe

Cyrus, Fitz, and the agents had been at Olivia's house for a week before Cyrus had to go home to D.C. and take care of Ella. She said goodbye to him and hoped that he would come back soon with Ella. She explained that she would come and visit them but she couldn't in case she had a seizure. Liv had to be close to the doctor so that he could take out more shards of the glass if it appeared.

Olivia made dinner for everyone before they watched a movie and headed to bed. She wanted to spend some alone time with Fitz.

"I don't mean to bring up bad memories or anything like that but I was wondering if maybe you can fill me in?" Liv asked quietly.

"I can try. What would you like to know?" Fitz answered.

"Why was I your mist… I mean what I was to you? I mean why wasn't I your wife or something like that? Everyone says we mean so much to each other so I just think that I was supposed to be more. And where is your wife? Does she even know you're here or anything like that? What about kids? You do have kids right?" She seemed to be going a mile a minute with the questions.

"Okay, Livie, slow down. I can answer some of that. You don't remember how we met yet right?"

"Cyrus said he called me in away from Edison to help with your campaign but I don't actually remember anything about you."

"That's okay. When he brought you to the campaign you told me everything that I was doing wrong and the one thing that needed to be said that no one else had the guts to say. You told me my marriage was the problem. And it's true it was. Mellie and I hadn't been happy in a very long time. I knew that you were it for me. Somehow, we fell in love. We just fell in love at the wrong time. You mean everything to me. I was going to leave it all. The campaign, Mellie, everything around it. I was going to leave it all to be with you. But you wouldn't let me. You wouldn't let me divorce her and marry you. I wanted to so badly. I only wanted to be with you. I never wanted you to be the other woman and you weren't. At least to us, you weren't. To the people you were but I didn't want you to. Where's Mellie? Mellie and I divorced long ago. 10 years ago actually. After I finished my second term as President she was done with me. I was done with her long before that. Mellie has actually met Nick. In an unusual way. Nick broke her nose when she called you a name."

"That was your wife?"

"Yes, she's a charmer," Fitz laughed. "I didn't know that he met her until the other day though, when Nick told me. Apparently, Mellie knew where you were for a while now and chose to not share the information. I raised kids. You've met them. Karen and Jerry and Teddy; they're all Mellie's kids but they aren't mine. I thought they were but they weren't. Jerry is my brother. Karen and Teddy are my friend's kids. I didn't know Mellie was sleeping with him. Teddy wasn't even supposed to be here. He was a political move that Mellie cooked up with your help during my Presidency."

Olivia couldn't look at Fitz anymore; she felt too guilty. "I'm sorry. It sounds like I was a terrible person who pushed you to do things that you never wanted to do."

Fitz took hold of her chin and moved her to look at him. "You are not a terrible person. And I didn't do anything that I didn't want to do. I could have done many things to stop you, I was just too weak to actually tell you no. You have always had a hold on me that I can't go against you. We have a special relationship that neither of us can control. I haven't been able to breathe properly for sixteen years. When I saw you the day we got here, it felt like I just took my first breath."

Liv moved closer to him on the couch and wrapped her arms around his upper body and held her face against his heart. "I don't know why but it feels like I breathe a lot easier around you."

Fitz pulled her closer to him and held her. "I know, sweet baby, I know."

After an hour or two they went upstairs to Olivia's room. He told her that he could go back to his room but she wanted him with her.

Fitz could hear some sort of gargling noise in his sleep. He woke up and looked at the clock on the nightstand next to him. It was only 4 in the morning. He could feel something shaking the bed like an earthquake. He turned the light on and looked next to him. Olivia was on her back with her eyes open but her pupils where as if she was looking inside her head. She was shaking uncontrollably. He pulled the covers off her and saw the white foam coming out of her mouth. He didn't have any idea what to do.

"NICK!"


	10. Seizure

"NICK!" Fitz screamed for him to come. "NICK!" He looked down at Liv. Fitz had no idea what to do or even if he could do anything to help her.

Nick ran into the room within seconds. "Mom!" Nick threw the covers from under Liv and threw them to the floor.

"Nick what do we did?" Fitz asked frantically.

Tom and Daniel came into the room soon after. "Just move," Nick said. "There's a number on the fridge, call him and tell him that my mom's having a seizure. We'll meet him at the hospital soon. Call an ambulance first though."

Tom and Daniel went downstairs and called them. Fitz was more than freaked out for Olivia.

Within minutes the ambulance arrived. Nick met the paramedics downstairs at the front porch. "Hey Ryan, she's upstairs in her bed. This one seems good though. Not sure how long this one is lasting. She's still seizing," Nick told him as they walked up the stairs.

"Think this might do it?" Ryan asked.

"Possibly, we can only hope."

Fitz listened to the conversation. He wasn't sure what was going on but he made a note to ask later.

The ambulance took Olivia and Nick to the hospital while Fitz and his security team followed them. Dr. Smith met Olivia and Nick at the emergency room doors. When they go inside, Olivia was still seizing. Her whole body was shaking even more but was starting to slow down. They took her get an MRI and see if any shards shook loose. Nick waited in the waiting room with Fitz and Tom and Daniel. After a few minutes, Dr. Smith came out to talk to Nick.

They talked in private for a few minutes before Nick went back to Fitz.

"What's going on?" Fitz asked. He hoped that she would be okay and this nightmare he was living would be over soon.

"Just sit down, I need a minute," Nick said. He went down to the chapel in the hospital. Fitz followed him after a minute and stayed outside, giving Nick the time he needed. After ten minutes he went into the chapel and sat next to Nick. "I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just what I do when she comes here."

Fitz nodded before he said anything. "I understand. If you need to come down here that's what you should do. What did the doctor say?"

"Last month when she was here and they did the MRI they saw that there were only 12 pieces of glass left. After they took out what they could, they did another MRI. When she went home, there were only 7 left. Dr. Smith showed me the MRI scan they just took and it looks like there is a 97 percent possibility that they can get all seven out. The shards are at the surface and Dr. Smith thinks that he can get them all out as long as she can stay still. Mom's gone into a coma, like she usually does and they are taking her into surgery now and taking out what they can. I'm hoping they can get everything out and she can tell me other things."

"I'm sure she is going to be okay. What kind of questions are you looking for?"

"Why did she leave D.C.? Why didn't she want me to know you? I'm hoping that she will be okay. The challenge is to get her into a position where they can get into her skull without moving the shards. We've been through this for the past five years and they have never been able to get her in a position to get them. The shards move deeper into her skull when they move her and we have to go through all of this again."

Fitz and Nick sat in the front of the chapel for several hours. They waited for the doctor to come in and give an update on how Olivia was.

It was almost noon when Dr. Smith came in. "Nick! We got them. Almost. Come with me," Dr. Smith told him.

The four men got up and followed the doctor into a private consulting room. "Is she okay?" Fitz asked.

"I'm sorry, you are?" Dr. Smith wasn't sure if he could say these things in front of him.

"This is Fitz Grant, he's… a friend. Let's just go over this. This is former President Grant. He's my dad; we can ignore all that for now. How is Mom?"

"She's still in the coma. Which is really good right now," Dr. Smith told them. He held the MRI scan up to the light. "There's only one left. Out of all of them but one. Look." He handed Nick the dish that had the shards in it that they had taken out.

He took the dish and went over to Fitz. "These are what are causing her memory problems. These small little bastards are what are making her forget you. Hopefully she will remember you now."

"Nick, there's more," Dr. Smith added. Nick sat down and listened to the doctor. "The shard that's still in there moved when we got her into position. When it moved, it moved to her frontal lobe. When she wakes up, she won't be herself. Her personality is going to be different but we don't know how different. We won't know for a bit. But she will remember you, Nick. She might even remember him." Dr. Smith motioned to Fitz.

"Okay, we can see her right?"

Fitz, Nick, and the agents followed the doctor into the ICU where Liv was. They all sat down in the room and waited for her to wake up.

"Just so you know, Fitz. It's going to be a long few days."


	11. Personality

Fitz and Nick sat by Olivia's bedside for two days. Nick had said that it's typically two or three days after she has surgery like this that she is in a coma. So far she's made no movement to wake up. Fitz had gone to get some lunch when Nick noticed that Olivia's hand was twitching on the bed.

"Mom? You can wake up whenever you want to. I'm right here when you do," Nick told her hoping she could hear him.

She moved a bit more and finally opened her eyes. "Hey Nicky. How'd it go?"

Nick pulled his chair closer to her. "All but one. But it moved further in and it will affect you more now, they're afraid. Do you remember the people who came over last week?" Olivia shook her head. "Alright then. This ought to be great for me. Cyrus came over and he brought Fitz. Fitz is downstairs right now. He's been here since you were brought to the hospital. He hasn't left your side unless it was to get food. He's pretty sweet. You were actually in bed with him when you had your seizure. He should be back in a minute."

Olivia tried to make it quick to tell Nick not to let Fitz in; but it was too late. By the time she opened her mouth, Fitz had already walked into the room.

"Hey sleepyhead, I'm glad you're with us. Has the doctor been in yet?" Fitz asked. Nick said he hadn't and went to go get him. Olivia had turned her head to avoid looking at him. "I'm so happy that you're awake. I missed you."

Olivia rolled her eyes and waited for the doctor to come in. "Hey Dr. Smith, can I leave yet?"

"Eager as always aren't you? We are going to run another test real quick and then work on getting you home. Sound okay?"

It took a few hours for the doctor to release her. When she was able to go home, Nick drove her in his car while Fitz and the agents followed. Nick helped her out of the car and up to the porch.

"I do not want him in my house! I've worked hard enough for him to be out of my life and I do not want him in yours. He is not allowed to come in," Olivia told Nick in her most stern voice. Fitz saw her nearly yelling at Nick on the porch and slowly got out of the car and made his way up.

"Mom, you're being unreasonable! Just let him…" Fitz heard Nick shout to her.

"I said NO!" Olivia went inside and slammed the door closed.

Fitz walked up the steps to Nick. "What was that about?"

"Mom's just being unreasonable. She says you can't come in. I'm not exactly sure why but she won't let you in."

He sat on the swing and started thinking. "That would mean that she remembers why she left D.C."

"You know why she left?"

"No she never said anything. She just left in the middle of the night. She never said why."

"Maybe she will talk to you. But more than likely she will only yell at you. But then you might figure out why she left. I know I would love to know the reason."

Fitz nodded, took a breath, and went inside. She didn't lock the door but she slammed it hard enough that he had to jiggle the door. "I think you should go someplace else, Nick. I'm sure you've seen her angry before but you've never seen her angry with me." He walked in a bit further and quietly closed the door. Slowly, Fitz walked around the hallway trying to find her. He went up the stairs towards her bedroom, she wasn't in there. He turned and went into the room he was staying in and found her. She had the window open and was throwing his things out of it. "I take it you remember me now?"

Olivia froze when she heard his voice. After a moment she leaned out the window and saw Nick. "You are so grounded!" she yelled out to her son. When she came back into the room she looked right at him. "As for you, you can follow your shit out the window and straight to hell for all I care."

Fitz stood with his arms crossed against the door. "Don't blame Nick. I just walked in. Now would you mind stop throwing my things out there?"

"Get out!"

"No! I've finally found you and I am not letting you go again. We need to talk."

"That's all you ever wanted to do. I am done with talking to you. You talked enough sixteen years ago and I will not be having a repeat of that. Get the hell out of my house."

Fitz moved to sit on the bed while Liv tried to work her way out of the room. She was able to outrun him and went down to the kitchen. Within seconds Fitz was hot on her heels.

"Fitzgerald get away from me," she yelled at him.

"Talk to me Olivia. Whatever made you leave me before, we can work through now." Olivia picked up a glass plate and threw it at him. Her aim was fairly good but not good enough to actually hit him. The plate shattered against the wall behind him. "Olivia! What the hell are you doing!" She picked up a bowl and threw it higher, attempting to aim for his head.

"Get out now!" The bowl broke into several pieces on the counter in front of him.

"Liv, fuck! Stop throwing things!" She pulled down the bottle of wine from the holder and was going to throw it. As she pulled it down she saw the label on the bottle. He went to duck so it wouldn't hit him but he too saw the label on the bottle. "You saved it?"

Gently, Liv set the bottle down on the counter and backed away. "I had to."


	12. Wine

"I had to save it." Olivia backed away to the sink. She held the sink tightly as she started to talk. "Why are you here?"

Fitz went to stand behind her but stopped when he sensed her tense up. "I'd been looking for you. I just don't understand why you left. How could you leave like that?" Liv was quiet for several minutes. "Liv?"

"It's what you wanted! You wanted me to leave, you didn't want me anymore! You told me to leave!"

"Who in the world told you that? And why would you believe them? You knew how much you mean to me. Why would I want you to leave?"

"You! You told me that! Why wouldn't I believe you? You are the one who is supposed to know what you want better than me. You didn't want me anymore and you told me to leave so I left. I just didn't know that I was pregnant. So why the hell are you back? I've been gone for sixteen years and you just come back out of nowhere."

"And I've been looking for you for sixteen years. I don't understand why I would tell you to leave. Nick called Cyrus last month and said that you were living in Seattle. I've had Cyrus, agents, private investigators, anyone I could think of looking for you for sixteen years. Who told you to leave? Did Cyrus say something? Mellie? Who?"

"You did! I had to leave because you said it."

"When did I say this? Exactly when did I say this?"

"The night I left. You called me."

"Livie, I didn't call anyone. I was in the Oval working that night. I was too busy to call anyone."

Olivia went upstairs for a minute. When she came back she had the phone that she had when she left. She turned it on and went to her voicemail. "You left me this."

She hit play on the voicemail. "I can't do this anymore. This game we're playing just sucks and it's not worth my presidency over. I don't love you anymore. I can't deal with what this is doing to me any longer. I just don't want you anymore. We can't keep this up and pretend. It wasn't supposed to happen like this and I need to make some changes. I want you to leave. Just leave D.C. Go wherever you want to go and just don't come back. I don't want to see you again. We can't keep doing this to each other. I'm sorry that I can't do this in person. I'm really busy tonight but I can't do this to myself any longer. We are just not compatible. What's the point of doing all of this to each other? Do us both a favor and leave. Leave and don't come back alright? Leave D.C."

Fitz listened to the voicemail that he left for her years ago. "Now do you get why I left? You pushed me to leave. You just keep saying that we aren't working out after you tell me that you won't accept my resignation. Fitzgerald, you didn't want me anymore. And as hard as it was, I did leave. It's what you wanted me to do."

She walked away from him as he sat on the bar stool at the counter. "Liv," Fitz started but he couldn't get his mouth to form the words. "You don't… you weren't… I didn't mean… Shit, Livie."

"What? You want to explain that?"

"Livie, that wasn't meant for you. I swear on my life. That message was not meant for you. It was supposed to go to Mellie. I wanted her to leave. She should have gone to California and stay there. I was talking about my marriage to her. It wasn't working. You know that as well as I do. Like you,"

"Do NOT compare me to that bitch!"

"She put everything below my presidency. Nothing was supposed to come before it. You always put my presidency first. No matter what I wanted. I wanted Mellie to leave, not you. I told you I wouldn't accept your resignation, what in the hell would make you think that, hours later, I wanted you gone?"

"You said it! You left me a message and told me to leave."

"I was drunk! How did you not realize that I was drunk?"

"I trusted my gut when you promised that you wouldn't drink anymore. You swore to me that you were done with alcohol. And you didn't seem drunk. When you're drunk you slur your words and you seethe between your teeth. I never heard that on that message. I can play it again for you if want."

Fitz picked up the phone and slammed it to the floor, breaking it. "I do not ever want to hear that again. Why would you think that I could change my mind so quickly?"

"I can think of a major time that you changed your mind so quickly. Three words for you. Wait. For. Me. Ring a bell?"

"That was different and you know it. There were things there that changed that night. When Verna died and told me everything it changed."

"I'm not getting back into this again. I told you why we did that when you finally allowed me to speak to you. Way after screwing me in a closet, if I may remind you."

Fitz tensed up remembering that day. "I don't need you to remind me of that. Which by the way, I'm still sorry about that. And I'm sorry that you left because of this misunderstanding. You've been hiding from me for sixteen years because of something I said when I was drunk. I missed out on sixteen years of being with you and with our son." Fitz got up and went over to the bottle of wine she left on the counter. "If you were so upset with me, why did you keep this?"

"It's not that I was upset with you. It's that I hoped eventually you would change your mind. I suppose I was waiting for today. Or a day like this. That way I can yell and ask you what the hell you were thinking. I was pissed to begin with but when I found out that I was pregnant I couldn't hate you anymore. This wine, it's more than just wine."

"It was, is, and meant to be a celebratory drink. It's supposed to be our twenty years of being together. From the day we met, twenty years later. You know that date comes…"

"Tomorrow."


	13. Twenty

"Twenty years from the day we met comes tomorrow. I can't believe we've actually been together for twenty years," Fitz said.

Olivia crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. "We haven't actually been together for twenty years. In fact if you add up the times that we have been together, you might get two, at most."

"I count these past twenty years as actually twenty. It doesn't matter if we were physically together or not. No matter where you've been, I've been right with you. And you've been with me. Livie, you own me and I own you. You have every piece of me that I can give you. So for the past twenty years, we have been together. It just hasn't been in a way that we both wanted it to be. But I've still loved you every day. I'll never be able to stop loving you. And knowing that Nick is part of both of us, it just makes me love you more. I'm sorry that I missed so much of yours and Nick's life. But I am here now and I don't care what you do, I'm staying. You can scream and hit and kick and do whatever else you want to me but I'm not going anywhere."

Liv walked up closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I don't want you to go anywhere. I missed being with you. Even being in the same city as you for so long. I wanted to go back to D.C. and demand that you explain yourself but it didn't seem right. I've hated you for so long that I just don't have the energy to do it anymore. I can't hate you anymore because hating you is exhausting and takes too much effort and too much time. Loving you is so much easier and is effortless."

"I love you too Livie. But I do want you to go somewhere with me."

"And where would that be?"

"I want to take you and Nick back to Vermont with me."

She smiled her biggest smile just for him. "You were going to sell it before. You kept it?"

"I couldn't get rid of something that was meant for you and me. It's where we were supposed to do everything. I think that the rest of forever will have to do though."

"I think the rest of forever isn't long enough."


End file.
